TWO POEMS by JOHNNY SCARLOTTI

I was at the fun park with my friend David
And my dad
We were young
I donno what age
Maybe 11
12?
Anyways
We were having a great time
Monkeying around on the railing, In line
for the new James Bond ride
We were so excited
Then my dad said
“Hey look, Johnny’s got his first zit
Look at it, it’s huge, on his nose”
He pointed it out to David
And he laughed
And got David to laugh
And they laughed at me
And I remember it hurt
I touched it
It hurt really bad
I had no idea it was there
until my dad pointed it out
I didn’t have much fun after that
For the next 10 years : Acne

Dad’s House

My dad lives on the top of a hill now
With his Buddhist girl
Tomeeko
Or something
She’s very petite
And her smile is very big and warm and nice
But most of her teeth are fake
I wonder why

Someday I want fake teeth
Because I’m insecure about mine
I wonder if she was too

Or maybe she got punched in the face by someone

Maybe it was my dad

Anyways
Tomeeko makes us something vegetarian
It’s okay
My dad says this is great
Great
This is great
Johnny, isn’t this great?
I say it’s ok

After dinner
We feed the big sharks in my dad’s tank
We’ve done this since I was a boy

Tomeerko sits back and watches
She’s not smiling now
But me and my dad arejohnny scarlotti is the author of 9 books of poetry, follow him on twitter @johnnyscarlotti